A few years ago you had carriers buying other carriers just to get their best drivers because that was how important the issue of safety was becoming to their bottom line. As we watched the economy melt down, there were lots of very qualified drivers that became available, creating a great opportunity for tank truck or those involves with hazardous materials. With these opportunities, we’re seeing some trucking companies are cleaning house – getting rid of their least desirable drivers and brining in more qualified drivers with better safety records. Never before has the trucking industry had the luxury of being able to select from such a qualified pool of drivers than we have today.

One thing that we need to keep our eye on is the driver entry eligibility program that’s coming out of Washington. If there was ever a situation that could put us back in regulation days, I think that this could be it. If we have such limits on not only drivers but on new trucking companies coming into our industry, it’s certainly sending the message about how important safety is and how the industry is going to track the people we’re going to be doing business with in the future.

At Grammer Industries, if you have three speeding tickets and you are trying to get a job with us, it won’t do you any good because we just won’t take you on. Some people don’t understand that approach but statistics show that when the truck is at fault, driver error is the cause of 88% of accidents, so it’s important for me as a company owner to make everyone understand how important that driver is and how important his safety record is.

The safety record of carriers is extremely important. The SafeStat situation is out there whereby any individual, any lawyer, any shipper can access the safety records of any carrier. The new thing that’s coming along here is CSA2010, which has been described as SafeStat on steroids. It’s going to be a situation where it’s going to become more and more important that the records and the enforcement officers in certain states (there’s about three states that are involved in a pilot program) will be able to determine whether or not that driver is fatigued – no matter whether his log book says that he has hours of service or not. This is signaling a move by the DOT to make sure that our trucking companies are operated with safe drivers that adhere to the rules and walk the walk when it comes to prioritizing safety.

The major return is that prioritizing safety could mean the difference between staying business and going out of business. I know of one carrier – couple hundred trucks – that had an at-fault accident. We’ll all have an at fault accident once in a great while, but the problem is that if we’re in an at-fault accident, and we get in a bad lawsuit situation, a lot of the insurance limits that most carriers carry today just won’t be enough in some circumstances. In this particular situation the carrier was insured for $2 million and the settlement was $3 million, o that carrier had to reach into their own pocket for the $1 million.

So if we can have a safety director that knows there job and can ask the right questions of the people that we’re looking to hire, then that’s probably the best money that we at Grammer Industries can spend. Knowing ho you’re putting behind your steering wheel is a very important part of any trucking operation and I don’t want people guessing that Grammer is a safe company and I want my shippers to know it.

Source: BigTruckTV.com | FMCSA2010.gov

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